Construction on the US White House began in 1792. It has been almost continuously occupied by US presidents since 1800, barring a few years after the British
set it on fire in 1814.
But that doesn’t mean that the present-day building is free of hazards—there are
mice, cockroaches, and ants. And as of this past weekend, a sinkhole has been
growing on the north lawn, Voice of America reporter Steve Herman observed, just near the press briefing room.
Steve Herman
✔@W7VOA
https://twitter.com/W7VOA/status/998919472567275520
This week I’ve been observing a sinkhole on the
@WhiteHouse North Lawn, just outside the press briefing room, growing larger by the day.
9:32 AM - May 22, 2018 ·
The West Wing
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“It was noticeably bigger between Sunday and Monday,” Herman said. “It’s more than a foot long right now,” he said. A second sinkhole has opened up right next to it, he said.
Often described as a “swamp” of corruption, the city of Washington, DC, is also literally built on a swamp. The city’s geological issues also include “forebulge collapse,” a post-Ice Age condition that means the city could
sink as much as six inches this century.
Sinkholes have opened up across the city in recent years. They forced two residents to
abandon their homes in March, and
swallowed up a school bus last year. This is the first report of one on the White
Houselawn.
Last year, a giant hole opened in the earth in front of Donald Trump’s Florida resort, but that was due to a
new water main, not a geological condition.